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Chinese Chinese Chinese This is the Chinese page. GREETING 1 There are four main tones and one neutral tone in Mandarin Chinese to distinguish words and grammatical uses. Sometimes Chinese tones change based on the tone that follows it. There are three main places where you will see this: with all 3rd tones (low then rising tones), with the character 一 yī (1/one), and with the character 不 bù (no, not). Here we’ll take a quick look at how the 3rd tone changes. There are two main rules for how to pronounce the 3rd tone: When you have two 3rd tones together, the first one becomes a 2nd tone (rising tone). When you have a 3rd tone followed by any other non-3rd tone syllable, it only lowers, it doesn’t rise at the end. NUMBERS When 一 is used as an independent number or as part of a series of numbers, it is pronounced with a high tone yī. When 一 is followed by a falling tone (4th tone) yì it turns into a rising (2nd tone) yí. Lastly, when it is followed by any other tone, it becomes a falling 4th tone yì. NAME Personal Pronouns Similar to English, personal pronouns in Chinese substitute regular nouns to avoid repeating the same word for many times. In English, personal pronouns for subject and object may be different, such as, “I” for the subject and “me” for the object. Please note that personal pronouns remain the same for subject and object in Chinese. Introduce Your Name Chinese sentences and English sentences have a very similar word order. When it comes to statements, for both, you generally have the subject (who is performing the action), followed by the verb (what that person or thing is doing), and lastly the object (what is receiving the action). You can use the pattern “subject + 叫 + name” as your first practice. 叫 jiào means “to call/name” or “to be called/named” and is commonly used to introduce names. To ask about surname (family name/last name) in particular, you can use 姓 xìng which means “to be surnamed” in a similar pattern with 叫. What The word order for questions in Chinese is the same as statements. You only need to replace the part you want to question about with a question word. The question word for “what” in Chinese is 什么 shénme. You can use “subject + verb + 什么 + (noun)?” pattern. The noun at the end is an option to make the question more specific. What about...? 呢 ne is placed at the end of a sentence to ask “how about…?/what about…?”. It is normally used as a return sentence after being asked the same question. GREETING 2 When we want to describe something we don’t use the verb “to be”, we have to put something else before an adjective. The most common word used to do this is 很 hěn, which literally means very. It goes between the subject (who or what we are describing) and the adjective (what we are describing it as). Since 很 is used so often like this, it oftentimes doesn’t mean “very”, just a link between a noun and an adjective. *Pinyin in brackets is the actual pronunciation as a result of the change of tone. The word for “also” or “too” is much less flexible in Chinese than in English. It must always come after the subject and before the verb. 也 can also be used in the phrase "If X is... then Y is (also) ..." Here we don't need to use 很. FOOD 1 Chinese sentences and English sentences have a very similar word order. For both, you generally have the subject (who is performing the action), followed by the verb (what that person or thing is doing), and lastly the object (what is receiving the action). To negate a sentence, you simply add the word 不 bù (no) before the verb. Simple! Another thing to note about 不 is that when we want to say “I am not happy” or “I am not tall”, we don’t need the 很 anymore. 我很高兴 -> 我不高兴 (not 我不很高兴) Note: You can say 我很不高兴, which is similar to saying “I am very not happy” i.e. “I am very unhappy.” 我吃饭。 In Mandarin Chinese, there are a lot of verbs that generally cannot be used without an object. The verb 'to eat', 吃 chī, is one of these. In order to say "I eat" or "I am eating" in Chinese, you have to include what is being eaten, you cannot use 吃 just by itself. The most common object people will use for the verb 'to eat' is rice, 饭 fàn, since in China it is eaten with almost every meal. 面 The word "noodles" is also in this skill. Chinese nouns don't show singular or plural in the same way that English words do. To specify if a word is plural or not, you have to use a number or another word (some, a few, etc.). The sentence 你吃面 nǐ chī miàn will translate as "You eat noodles" because it would be a bit odd to just eat a single noodle. Occupation When we want to say that something is something, we use the word 是 shì, which is the verb “to be”. This is only when talking about two nouns or a pronoun and a noun. Remember to use 很 hěn when describing what something is like using an adjective. Yes/No Questions Asking yes/no questions in Chinese is very simple, all you need to do is add 吗 ma (neutral tone) to the end! 吗 doesn’t really have any direct translation in English, you can think of it as a sort of question mark that you also say out loud. Also, when you add 吗, you no longer need to add 很 to mean “to be.” 们 CONTACT If you want to express possession, saying that someone/something belongs to someone/something else, the word 的 de (neutral tone) is used to connect the two elements. You can think of 的 as similar to adding "‘s" in English, so “A 的 B” is equivalent to “A’s B”. “A” can be a noun or a pronoun, but “B” is nearly always a noun. Which In Chinese, when talking about how many of something there are, we don’t just add the number before the word, but also put something in between the number and the noun to classify it. The same thing also happens with words like “this” or “that” (demonstrative pronouns). We do something similar in English but to a much lesser degree. A few examples are “a plate of spaghetti,” “a bowl of rice,” “a bottle of water,” “a pack of dogs,” etc. 哪 nǎ combined with other words can be used to ask “where” and “which” questions. The pattern “哪 + measure word + noun” serves to ask “which…”. *个is used for people and objects in general Both/All The word 都 dōu can be translated as either "both" or "all" in English. Different from English, you should always place 都 after the subject, following the pattern “subject + 都 + verb”. *和 means “and”. GREETING 3 You learned about the pattern "subject + adverb + adjective", such as 我很高兴 (I am happy). You also learned about that to negate a verb, you can simply place 不 before it. Similarly, to negate an adjective, one pattern is "subject + 不 + adjective", such as 我不高兴 (I am not happy). LOCATION 1 Chinese has a specific word to talk about where someone or something is located. This word is 在, and it means to be at or located in. *When 不 bù is followed by a 4th tone word, it becomes bú. There is no exception to this rule. 在 can also be added after certain verbs to say where the action is taking place. The most common verb is 住 zhù (to live): FAMILY 1 Measure Word 个 gè In Chinese, when talking about how many of something there are, we don’t just add the number before the word, but also put something in between the number and the noun to classify it. The same thing also happens with words like “this” or “that” (demonstrative pronouns). We do something similar in English, but to a much lesser degree. A few examples are “a plate of spaghetti,” “a bowl of rice,” “a bottle of water,” “a pack of dogs,” etc. In Chinese, you need to use a measure word whenever you use 这 (this), 那 (that), or a number. The most common word used is 个, which is used for people and objects in general. We will look at other measure words later in the course. Also remember that 一个 is pronounced yí ge (一 has a rising tone), rather than yī ge. Family Members Chinese is much more specific about family relationships. In English, we talk about our brothers and sisters without knowing whether they are older or younger than us. In Chinese, there are specific words for older brother and younger brother, and the same goes for “sister.” For people that you have a close relationship with (e.g. family), and for institutions and organization you are involved with (e.g. work, school), you can choose to leave out the 的, but this only happens with pronouns. But... 没有 Although 不 bù is used to negate every other verb, there is one exception: 有 yǒu, to have. To say someone does not have something, you do not use 不 bù, instead, you use 没 méi. So "I do not have a telephone" translates as 我没有电话. PHRASES 2 Again（Future） The word 再 zài means "again", indicating something will happen again in the future. One common pattern is "再 + verb + number + measure word". This pattern is always used to make requests and orders. GREETING 4 The Most... You can place 最 before all adjectives to form the superlative adjectives (the most, the worst, the biggest, etc.). DRINK Want The verb 要 yào has many uses. One function is to indicate "wanting something". You should follow the pattern "subject + 要 + object". To negate this wanting, you can simply place 不 before 要. You can also use 要 to express "wanting to do something" via the pattern "subject + 要 + verb". TIME 1 Days of the Week and Months Days of the week and months are very simple to express. For weeks, you simply add the number (Monday = 1, Tuesday = 2, Wednesday = 3, etc.) after the word 星期 Xīngqī (week) to get the day of the week. The only exception is Sunday, where we add 天 tiān or 日 rì. With months it’s the same, only you add the number before 月 yuè (month). 几 Chinese has two words for asking “How much?”: 多少 duōshǎo and 几 jǐ. We learned about 多少 when learning how to ask for telephone numbers. 多少 is generally used to ask about larger numbers, whereas 几 is generally used for smaller numbers when it is assumed that the answer will be under ten. The exception to this is dates and hours of the day, where we know there are 12 months and hours and up to 31 days in a month, but we still use 几. We place 几 right where the number would go. Chinese dates Chinese dates (and addresses) start from biggest to smallest. When saying dates, you start with the year followed by the month and finally the day of the month. Years are also very easy to say, rather than saying “two thousand and seventeen” or “twenty seventeen”, you just say each number individually followed by 年 (year). Thus 2017 would be 二零一七年: èr líng yī qī nián. FAMILY 2 To ask yes or no questions, you have learned that you can put 吗 at the end of the sentence. Alternatively, you can repeat the verb and connect the two parts by 不. Of course, the answer to such questions can be “yes” or “no”. Please note there is no specific word for “yes” or “no” in Chinese. The shortest answer for “yes” is to reply with the verb, and that for “no” is the pattern “不 + verb”. Basically, the two ways of questioning can be safely interchanged. If you use the "verb + 不 + verb" pattern, you should not put 吗 at the end of the question. When it comes to words with two or more characters, in the first part, you can just say the first character (of course you can say the whole, though it sounds less natural), as in these cases: Telephone 得 In Chinese, if you want to describe the degree or the condition of an action, you can add 得 de (neutral tone) and an adjective phrase to it (what you are describing the subject as). The phrase after 得 serves to further illustrate how the action is and what consequence it brings about. PEOPLE 1 Previously, you learned about the “verb + 不 + verb” pattern to ask yes or no questions. In fact, this pattern also applies to adjectives. The same thing happens to adjectives with two or more characters where you can choose to only repeat the first character or both characters, though it sounds more natural to only repeat the first character. TIME 2 了 In Chinese, 了 le (neutral tone) is a commonly seen character with many uses. Here, 了 is used to show the completion of an action. To make a verb or a verb phrase indicate completeness, you just need to add 了 after it. So you can finally express past tense actions! Keep in mind, however, that you can also see this in sentences about the future when 了 is showing that one action was completed before another. 会 会 huì can be used to indicate future tense. Simply place it before the verb or adjective and it will place the context of the sentence into the future. To say “won’t”, you can use 不会 bùbú huì. In many cases, you can also find “next year”, “tomorrow”, and other words referring to the future in the sentence with 会. Sentence Structure: Time Word Time words such as today, tomorrow, and yesterday usually come after the subject but before the verb. You can also see them come before the subject, but never after the verb. Location 3 Left and Right 左 zuǒ means being left and 右 yòu means being right. The pattern “A + 在 +B + 的 + 左/右边 biān” simply indicates literal translation: A is on B's left/right side. 的 can be omitted in this structure. Please note that 在 is used to describe the location in relation to the other object. You have to add 边 (side) after 左/右 when making a sentence. Similarly, to say "A is next to B", you can use the word “旁páng边”. Front and Behind 前 qián refers to being front while 后 hòu means being behind. To make a sentence indicating A is in the front of/behind B, you have to use 前面 miàn/后面. You can use the pattern “A + 在 +B + 的 + 前/后面”. How... 怎么 (zěnme) means "how". By simply putting 怎么 before verbs, you can create questions to ask how to do something. The subject is not always necessary for this sentence pattern. 到 + Place You can place the “到 + place” pattern to indicate "to arrive". Please note that “去 + place” emphasizes going to a place while “到 + place” is for arriving at a place. You can put this pattern before “怎么 + verb” to ask how to get to a place. ] Where The first use of 哪 is to ask "which" questions in the form of “哪个”. 哪里 serves to create “where” questions or to ask about places. It follows the regular rule for the question sentences, replacing the part being asked about. One common pattern is “subject + verb + 哪里？”. HOBBIES 1 在 When a verb phrase comes after 在 zài, instead of referring to a location, 在 indicates that the action is happening now. You can use 在 in sentences with a vague time that goes beyond the current moment. ROUTINE 1 The "from...to..." structure in Chinese is “从 cóng…到 dào…”. It can be used for both times and locations. 从 is followed by the starting point and 到 leads the ending point. To describe everyday routine, you can use the pattern "someone + 每天 (every day) + time 1 + 到 + time 2 + action". Please note that you can place 每天 before the subject. PAYMENT 多少 You learned about 多少 duōshǎo when learning how to ask for people’s phone number. 多少 can also be used to ask “how much” or “how many.” While 几 is used to ask about smaller numbers, 多少 is generally used to ask about numbers when we expect the answer to be larger, generally over ten. The pattern for asking about quantity is “多少 + measure word + noun”. And to ask “How much does it cost?” or “How much is it?” in Chinese, you can ask “subject + 多少钱？”. 钱 means money and the literal meaning of 多少钱 is “how much money”. Read Numbers To read numbers for quantity in Chinese, similar to English, you can spell them out as number + digit name (thousand, hundred, etc.) + number + digit name. For the numbers 11 through 19, instead of saying 一十一, 一十二, you can omit the leading 一 and say 十一, 十二, etc. When reading a number that is not followed by any measure word, the trailing zero(s) can be omitted. However, you should also spell out the zeros before the unit position. Zero in Chinese is 零 líng. ENTERTAIN 在 When you talk about where something takes place, we use the phrase “在 + location”, which goes after the subject but before the verb. LOCATION 4 To describe a more specific location in Chinese, you can use the structure “在 + location + 里 lǐ (inside) / 外 wài (outside) / 上 shàng (on) / 下 xià (under)”. Want to do Previously, you learned about “要 yào + something” to express "wanting something". To say "wanting to do", simply put the verb after 要. “要 + verb + object” can also indicate "be going to do" when the sentence has a time word. To negate "wanting to do" something, you can just put 不 before 要. You should replace 要 with 不 to show "not going to do" something. The Brief Action The structure “verb + 一下 yīyíxià” indicates that the action is conducted in a brief manner. Apart from creating a sense of "a little bit" of an action, this pattern also softens the overall tone and makes Chinese sentences more natural. Other patterns with similar use will be introduced later. 几 When asking small numbers, you should use the word 几 jǐ. Importantly, an appropriate measure word should follow 几. The complete pattern is “几 + measure word + (number)”. *只 zhī is one of the measure words to describe animals. MARKET 给 You can follow the English pattern using the verb 给 gěi (to give) to indicate the action of passing things to someone. The verb 给 by its own is used similarly to how we say “here” or “here you are” when handing something to someone. The pattern is “给 +the recipient + something”. You can also start the sentence with 请 to show your politeness and respect. HOBBIES 2 Why To ask "why" questions, you can start by making a regular statement sentence, then place 为什么 wèishénme(why) after the subject. 为 means "for", 什么 means "what", so that 为什么 literally stands for "for what". Please follow the pattern "subject + 为什么 + description of the subject's action". Go to The word 去 qù can indicate the action of going to a certain place. "subject + 去 + place" is among the most commonly used construction. In many cases, you can put 要 before 去 to express "going to" or "wanting to go" someplace in the future. Cause and Effect 因为 yīnwèi is used to introduce causes, while 所以 suǒyǐ is followed by effects and results. You can use "因为 + reason/cause, 所以 + effect/result" pattern to make a very logical explanation of "because A, so B". In informal settings, similar to English, you can choose to use either 因为 or 所以 in a sentence. Please note that, if you only want to keep 因为, the sentence should follow the result, 因为 + cause/reason" structure. DINING 1 还是 There are different ways to say “or” in Chinese. When you want the person to choose between one or the either, you can use the structure “A + 还是 háishì + B” in a question. Notice that there is no need for the 吗 at the end because 还是 implies a question. It can also be used in statements when there is a question implied. Normally the phrase is after “subject + verb”. HEALTH 1 A Little Bit (negative) 有一点儿/有点儿 yǒuyóudiǎnr is used to make a complaint in a very polite manner and indicates "a little bit too much of a certain feeling". When you use the pattern "subject + 有点儿 + adjective", please be aware that you should choose adjectives with unpleasant meanings. In southern China, 儿 can be dropped. Don't Do That! Apart from expressing "not wanting something", 不要 bùbúyào is also popularly used to command someone not to do something. You can drop the subject (the command recipient) and directly use the structure "不要 + verb". Starting from (time) 从 cóng refers to "from" in English and 开始 kāishǐ means "to start". "从 + starting time + 开始" can be placed before the subject or between subject and verb to show that starting from a certain point of time, some action will take place. *了 here indicates that there is a new condition (I used to watch TV, but starting from this weekend, I will not watch it anymore.) Each/Every Previously, you learned about 每天 měitiān (every day) where 每 means "each/every". 每 is normally used in the pattern "每 + measure word + 都 + action/description". Here, 都 dōu refers to "all". Sounds unnatural in English as it is (having both "every" and "all"), 都 serves to emphasize the quantity in a sentence. Please note that, 天 itself is a measure word so that there is no need to place an extra measure word between 每 and 天. TRANSPORTATION The original meaning of 坐 zuò is "to sit". It can also refer to the action of taking a certain vehicle since people normally sit in the bus, train, and place, to name a few. You have learned about "去 + place" to show "going to a place". "坐 + vehicle + 去 + place" simply means to take some vehicle to somewhere. May Placing before verbs, 可以 kěkéyǐ is used to show the permission to carry out actions, similar to "may" "can (permission not ability)" in English. To negate the permission, you can simply use 不可以 (can't). SHOPPING 1 没有 Previously, you learned that to express negation in Chinese, one can add 不 before the verb. However, this construction is for negating present actions and habits. The actions in the past should be negated with 没有 méiyǒu. Both “没有 + verb” and “没 + verb” are commonly used. Double Verbs Chinese people repeat the same verb twice in a sentence to create an easygoing tone, indicating the brevity of the action. You should pronounce the second verb in this pattern with the neutral tone. LANGUAGES A Little Bit 一点儿 yīyìdiǎnr (一点 in southern China) literally means "a little bit". Different from 有点儿 placed before unpleasant adjectives, "adjective + 一点儿" is used to express "a little bit more of a condition". "verb + 一点儿 + object" indicates that the action is conducted on a little bit of the object. You can use it for comparison and show the speaker's expectation. 一 can be dropped. TIME 3 Half 半 bàn means "half". To make a Chinese sentence using 半, you should follow the pattern "半 + measure word + noun". One and a Half "number + measure word + 半 bàn" means "a certain number" and a half. 8:58 To say 8:58 am/pm in English, you would say "eight fifty-eight" or "two minutes to nine". Similarly, in Chinese, you can choose to say “八点五十八” or use 差 chā. The complete pattern "差 + number + 分/刻 + （到）+ number + 点" simply indicates how many minutes/quarters to the next sharp hour. Please note that 到 can be omitted and 分 is short for 分钟. This pattern is applicable to every number on the clock face to avoiding using big numbers, for example, 7:16 can be “差四分到七点二十” rather than “差十四分到七点半”. EXISTENCE 没有 In addition to expressing the negation of actions in the past, 没有 can also be placed after a location to show that something does not exist there. Digging a little deeper, you might notice that 没 is used to negate 有, the verb for both “to have” and “there is/are”. Normally present actions are negated with 不, but 有 is an exception. 没有 and 没 are both commonly used. SPORTS 1 Duration You may remember that to indicate an action’s completion, you should put 了 after the action. You can use the pattern “verb + 了 + duration + 的 + object” to address how long that action took place. The 的 after the duration is to show how long the action occurred. It may be helpful to think of this 的 as being similar to “’s worth of”, for example, 一天的电视, a day’s worth of TV. Keep in mind that you can only have a noun after 的, if the object of the verb is a pronoun, it must come after 了 and before the time. INVITE 1 过 Adding 过 guò after the verb can indicate actions that one has experienced in the past. Since 过 refers to the past action, you need to use 没有 or 没 to negate “verb + 过”. HEALTH 2 了 Another use of 了 is to be placed at the end of a sentence to show there is a new situation or a new situation is about to come.